


Status Quo

by ObliqueOptimism



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Good Brother Luther Hargreeves, Sober Klaus Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 03:42:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21155042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObliqueOptimism/pseuds/ObliqueOptimism
Summary: Klaus and Luther make a bet.Turns out, it wasn't a guaranteed win like Luther had expected.





	Status Quo

**Author's Note:**

> i'm a bit drunk but i wanted to write fluff and this was half done so i finished it i guess its good? remus likes it. i don't know. also thank you remus for the summary. why are summaries so hard?

“Hey Luther,” Klaus knocked on the door frame of his room. The door was open, they were having a sort of open door policy since the apocalypse didn’t happen. It’d been a few weeks since then and this was the first time someone sought him out.

Not that Luther blamed them. He had spent four years on the moon. Wasted years for nothing, just because his father couldn’t stand him anymore. Apparently he’d also let Klaus die alone at the rave he went to. Which was enough for Luther to swear off drugs and alcohol. (And boy he was surprised Klaus was so okay around him, that he seemed to harbor no ill will towards the brother who left him to die.) He’d also locked Vanya up, but thankfully the others protested enough and Five showed up and he was proven wrong to lock up his sister.

He’d had a bad week and he did bad things during that time. 

He’d been trying to make up for it all.

He hoped he didn’t look too needy at Klaus, “Yeah?”

“So, I was thinking,” Klaus leaned dramatically against the doorway. And only Klaus could lean dramatically against a doorway, honestly Luther was almost impressed. “I was thinking that you and I should have a contest.”

“A contest,” Luther repeated.

“I bet you a hundred bucks that I can do more push ups than you,” Klaus waggle his eyebrows.

Luther stared at Klaus. He was so skinny and thin and had stick arms. Surely there was no way. Klaus noticed the staring and started to flex his arms, showing off the muscles he did apparently have. But there was no way a newly sober Klaus, who only a few days ago stopped having severe withdrawal symptoms, could beat him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Klaus let out a whine, “Come on, brother mine! I’m bored! It’ll be fun, and in theory I can make a hundo.”

“You don’t have any money to give me when you lose,” Luther pointed out.

“Ha!” Klaus pulled out a few bills to show Luther. It was a hundred dollars. 

Luther’s first thought was that Klaus was going to buy drugs with the money. But if he really wanted to do that, why was he making a bet he couldn’t win? Klaus often seemed to speak in riddles and half-truths making it sometimes hard to understand what he needed. Maybe this was his way of asking for Luther to keep track of his money so he wouldn’t go out and spend it on crack cocaine? 

Well if that was the case, he should take the bet. He’d give Klaus his money back later, just keep it somewhere safe in his room. Probably let Klaus know that it was okay and he was there for him. He’d been doing some reading since the world didn’t end. One of the books was how to help recovering drug addicts. (He also read books on trauma and abuse, now that he knew that’s what they’d all gone through. What he’d gone though. He felt so, so stupid to have spent 29 years of his life not knowing he and his family was abused.)

“Yeah, okay.”

Klaus stumbled, seemingly surprised, “Yeah?”

Luther nodded, getting up from where he sat, “Right now?”

“Yes! Best time, obviously.” He paused and then narrowed his eyes, “But do you have the money to back up your claim?”

Luther sighed, “Yes, Klaus. I have the money.”

“Excellent! I look forward to adding it to my collection,” Klaus clapped. As if he expected to win. But he was asking for help, right? He _wasn’t_ expecting to win, right? 

God, Klaus was confusing. 

For some reason, Klaus said they _must_ have the contest in the Academy gym. And then _somehow_ everyone else found out about the competition. (They ran into Five, who asked what they were doing. Upon Klaus’s answer, Five then jumped to the others, explaining what was happening Luther hadn’t seen his siblings so excited to watch something in years.)

They were placing bets as well.

Luther noted, but wasn’t surprised, that Diego was the only one who didn’t bet on Luther. Diego always tried to pick the opposite of him. This was nothing new. He was mildly shocked that Diego chose now to side against him so badly that he put his own hundred in the pot. It could be that Diego was trying to help build Klaus’s confidence. That was probably it. 

Luther wanted to help build Klaus’s confidence as well, but he wasn’t going to deliberately lose. 

No one would be surprised when Luther won.

As they got ready, Klaus winked at Diego who smirked back. 

“Ready?” Allison asked as they got in position. “Go!”

The contest started.

Luther idly watched Klaus from the corner of his eye. His push ups were military precision, which Luther didn’t see coming. Their father often had them do this sort of warm up as kids but he had never pushed the military precision aspect. 

_Klaus really had good form_.

And he wasn’t going too fast, he had a nice pace going. Luther had figured he’d rush through and wear himself out, but he guessed wrong. 

They continued for a few minutes.

Luther was sweating, feeling the strain in his arms for doing the repetitive motion over and over. Klaus was also sweating but he didn’t seem to be shaking like Luther was. He still had solid form. 

_How?_

A little bit longer and Luther was wondering if he would win. If he could go on. Surely Klaus was feeling it like him, was wanting to win out of spite and holding on, thinking if he did just one more, _just one more_, he’d outlast Luther. 

But another glance confirmed that Klaus wasn’t feeling it like him. He had just said an _endurance_ joke with a smirk. He’d had no trouble giggling after the joke. 

Eventually the strain was too much. If he went much longer he’d blow out his arms and would be no good to anyone. Trying for one more, just one more, he heard his siblings cheering for him to continue but he just couldn’t do it.

He let himself fall. 

“You win.”

Klaus did two more to prove a point before ending sitting up and grinning. “I win!” He proudly held his hands above his head.

How he held them up, Luther wasn’t sure.

There was an outrage. Diego telling everyone to pay up.

Rolling over, Luther looked to Klaus. “Good job.”

“Thanks, bro!” Klaus beamed at him. 

At least Luther got him to smile like that. That was a bonus.

“Did you let him win?” Allison yelled out after Diego asked for the money once more.

“No,” Luther said between breaths. 

“Of course not. My endurance is _legendary._” Upon everyone’s groan, Klaus explained. “No, like in my unit. For contests like this.”

“Your unit?” Vanya asked.

“In the army. You know, when I was in Vietnam?” Klaus spoke as if it was common sense.

“Wait!” Five yelled, holding out his hands, “Vietnam? Army? You went to the _Vietnam War?_”

“Yeah? You didn’t know that?” Klaus asked, almost bemused. 

“No!” Five yelled.

“I”m sorry, what’s happening?” Allison asked.

“When Hazel and Cha Cha shot up the house looking for me they took Klaus captive. He then time traveled for _ten months_ and apparently was in the _Vietnam War_ during that time,” Five explained.

“Yeah. It was _boring_ often. Lot of downtime in wars. Just waiting for fights to break out. So we did a lot of contests. Who can do push ups for longer, who can do more jumping jacks, who can stand on one leg the longest, who can do a hand stand and walk the farthest, who can say the most crazy tongue twister, who can mime grilling a steak the best. Y’know? Stave off boredom. You can only play card games so much.” Klaus shrugged. “I figured I could beat Luther because my endurance from all that shit was still up. He may be a strong fucker but _endurance?_ That’s my game.”

Luther gestured vaguely to Diego, not wanting to move his arms, “Did you know?”

“Where do you think he got the hundred to bet you with?” Diego scoffed, “He did this to me two days ago.”

Klaus clapped (how could he move like that right now, ugh, Luther hurt so much), “Damn right!”

Eventually they started to disperse. Luther and Klaus being the last ones in the room. Clearing his throat, Luther looked to Klaus, “Thank you. You did good. I’m proud of you.”

Klaus rolled his eyes, “It’s like you just repeated three lines from those How To books you’ve been reading.”

“None of it is untrue though,” Luther shrugged. “Thank you for showing me that just because it’s a physical activity I’m not the best at it. You did good, really good. I honestly spent a lot of time admiring your form. And I’m proud of you.”

Klaus was blushing, “Shut up. Get some frozen peas on your arms or something. You’re stupid!”

Klaus then stood up and reached out, ready to help Luther to his feet.

Luther was more than happy to grab his brother’s hand and ask for help.

**Author's Note:**

> obliqueoptimism @ tumblr


End file.
